SSBR High School Preview: Bartlesville Bruins

The calendar has turned to the a new year and that means the OSSAA high school baseball season will be here soon. Classes A1, A2, and B officially get started February 23 while the rest of the classes begin March 2.

Up until that the beginning of the season, SSBR will be providing previews of as many teams as we can. Recently, SSBR sent out questionnaires to the high school coaches across the state of Oklahoma asking for their top returning players, top newcomers, overall strengths/weaknesses, and their overall assessment where their respective programs are coming into the 2026 season.

What you have below are the responses to those questions in the words of the coaches themselves.

Today’s team: Bartlesville Bruins

Classification: 6A

2025 Spring Results: 20-17

Head Coach: Cody Price

Head coaching experience: 7 years (all at Bartlesville)

Top Returners

Barrett Merciez – 2026 (Cowley County) – P/IF – 3 year district starter – coming off labrum surgery in May, but recovering well and still a huge part of the team as a leader, at the plate and on the field
Sam Marcella – 2026 P/IF – 3 year starter – will play SS/3B for us and throw a lot of big innings as well. Solid infield who is very consistent in the field and at the plate.
Carson Silva – 2026 – DH – Our leading hitter last year – really good hands at the plate and a lot of pop as well. Will hit in the middle of the lineup
Cooper Swaim – 2027 – P/IF – Corner infielder who will hit in the middle of the lineup and pitch for us as well. Strong kid with some pop
Kanin Romesburg – 2027 – Played consistently last year as a sophomore until an injury ended his season. Very athletic kid who can play anywhere on the field.
Cy Rigdon – 2027 – Played 2B last year but will look to transition to OF this year. Very fast and baseball savvy.
Braden Neill – 2028 – Played some last year as a freshman. He will catch and play the corners this year – good young player with a lot of upside
Pierce Hindman – 2026- Returning OF/P who has had varsity experience the last two seasons, always had a really good fall and will push for a starting position and throw some as well.
Liam Buchanan – 2026 – Returning OF who played some for us last year. Good speed as well

Top Newcomers

Sam Hill – 2026 (Allen County) – P/OF – impact transfer- very talented player on the mound, in the field and in the box. Will be a very big contributor for us this year.
Tyler Neeley – 2026 (Ottawa) – C/P/3B – impact transfer- Really good player who will catch for us and be one of our top arms
Hudson Baker– 2026 – P/OF – impact transfer – will be one of our top arms and have a chance to compete for an outfield spot as well
Wyatt Mathis – 2027 – OF/P – impact transfer – Junior outfielder who swings it and runs well. Will have a chance for a starting position in the OF and on the mound

Overall Team Strengths

Depth – we have added a lot of quality players this year. I believe we will always be better offensively this year.

Overall Team Needs to Work On

Experience – we have 10 seniors but 3 of them are new to us and a few are inexperienced at the varsity level.

Outlook

We are excited about the team we have. Our top arm (Barrett Merciez) is returning from shoulder surgery, so we won’t be as experienced on the mound for our district games, but I believe we have some really good guys to fill those spots.

Schedule

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